Dispenser for materials under pressure



DISPENSER FOR MATERIALS UNDER PRESSURE Filed Jan. 9. 1963 V w d l J8 /9 J ./1 Z3 19 Li: ?i f. PE E 53" a i 24 z.-- Z4 1 L Z2 m INVENTOR.

Passer/finer Hem/1mm BY I X26 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,217,636 DISPENSER FDR MATERIAL UNDER PRESSURE Robert Henry Abpianalp, 10 Hewitt Ave, Bronx's/Elie, FLY. Fiied Jan. 9, 1963, Ser. No, 250,265 11 (Ilaims. (Cl. 222-136) This invention is a dispenser so constituted that different materials may be mechanically isolated from one another within the container until the dispensing operations, at which time they become intermingled so that the spray or other flow from the discharge outlet of the dispenser contains both materials.

In the past various attempts to accomplish this result have not been satisfactory for reasons Well known to the art.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and efficient dispenser structure to accomplish this result in a simple and effective manner.

Speaking generally, the dispenser of this invention comprises an outer container, hereinafter referred to as the can. This can is provided with a dispensing valve, hereinafter referred to as the main valve or main discharge valve. This main valve includes a valve housing to which is attached a dip tube extending to the bottom of the can. Within the can and surrounding the dip tube is a cylinder closed at its upper end and open at its bottom end. This cylinder constitutes an inner container having therein a piston which has sealing relation with the inner wall of the cylinder and the exterior of the dip tube, but is movable vertically of the cylinder by a pressurized propellant within the can exteriorly of the cylinder. The purpose of the piston is to keep the material, e.g., an active ingredient, within the cylinder under pressure and said active ingredient may enter the valve housing through one or more openings provided in the latter so as to intermingle with the propellant entering the valve housing through the dip tube, to be discharged through the main valve when the latter is opened.

In the preferred form of the invention, such opening or openings in the housing are adapted to be normally sealed by a slide valve which will uncover the openings when the main valve is opened, so that the commingling of the materials referred to may then take place during the dispensing operation.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to,

will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and appended claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a central vertical section through a dispenser embodying the present invention with the parts shown in non-dispensing positions.

FIG. 2 is a fragmental section of the upper portion of the container with the discharge valve thereof in open condition.

FIG. 3 is a section on the line 33 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a can which constitutes the outer container. This can may be of any desired construction and may be made of any material and it may have a top closure of any desired kind. However, for the purpose of this disclosure, the can is shown as a metal can having a top filling opening closed by a conventional mounting cup 2 having an upstanding pedestal 3 in which the main valve is mounted.

This main valve operates on the same general principles as the valve of my prior Patent No. 2,631,814, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. It

comprises a valve housing 4 permanently secured within the pedestal and serving to clamp, between. its upper edge and an inturned flange at the top of the pedestal, a sealing member in the form of a disk-like gasket 5. Within the housing 4 is a main valve core 6 having an integral upstanding tubular valve stem 7 on which is mounted a valve operating button 8. The button has a discharge outlet 9.

The base of the valve stem is provided with a neck 10 having therein one or more orifices 11 adapted to be obturated by the inner margin of the gasket 5 when the main valve is in sealing condition. When the push button 8 is depressed, the valve stem 7 and core 6 descend with it and bend the inner margin of the gasket downwardly so as to uncover the orifices 11 to thereby permit passage of material from the interior of the valve housing through said orifices to the button 8, whereby they may exit through the discharge outlet 9, all as described in my aforesaid prior patent.

A main valve of the character described is the one which I prefer to employ in carrying out the: present invention although other forms of valve to serve the same purpose and which are readily adaptable for use in the carrying out of this invention are within the purview of this invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the valve core is made somewhat longer than in my prior patent and has at its lower end an extension 12. A spring 13, seated in the bottom of the housing which is also made somewhat longer than in my prior patent, bears against the bottom of the coil 6 and normally maintains the main valve in sealed condition.

In the preferred form of this invention, a secondary valve, namely, a slide valve 14 is positioned for vertical sliding movement within the housing 4. This slide valve is annular and surrounds the extension 12 of the core 6. A packing 15, which may be in the form of an O-ring, is contained within the periphery of the slide valve so as to form a seal with the inner wall of the housing and more particularly with one or more inlet openings 16 in the lateral wall of said housing.

The parts are so proportioned that, when the main valve is in the sealed condition shown in FIG. 1, the O-ring 15 will register with the openings: 16 and thus seal said openings. To permit passage of material through the interior opening of the annular slide valve 14, one or more passages 17 are formed in the lower portion of the core 6 and its extension 12. These passages function as a by-pass of the slide valve for such material, as presently explained.

The lower end of the main valve housing 4 has a reduced extension 18 to which is secured a dip tube 19. This tube extends downwardly to the bottom of the can through an inner container 20. This container is in the form of a cylinder which is rigid or substantially so. Its bottom end is open while its upper end is inturned and provided with a flange 21 secured to the exterior of the main valve housing 4 in any suitable manner, as by an adhesive or a tight press fit, so that the upper end of the cylinder is sealed. Within the cylinder is a piston 22 which may move upwardly therein as pressure is applied to its under side.

The piston is provided with suitable packing which may conveniently be in the form of ribs 23 and 24 adapted respectively to engage with the inner wall of the cylinder and the exterior surface of the dip tube so as to preclude leakage of material under pressure from the outer container past the piston into the interior of the cylinder which constitutes the inner container.

in practice all parts of the structure hereinbefore described, except the spring 13, may be made of plastic 9 material and all of these parts are preferably made of plastic except the outer container 1 and the mounting cup 2 which are ordinarily of sheet metal.

The dispenser hereinbefore described may be used to dispense a wide variety of materials and combinations thereof. For example, the outer container may be charged with a suitable liquid and/ or gaseous propellant such, for example, as freon or some compressed gas, for example, nitrogen or carbon dioxide. This propellant may be used alone or may be admixed with or in solution with water or a solvent or with a catalyst, for the material contained in the inner container. The inner container may be charged with, for example, liquid starch or any other material which, when combined with material in the outer container, will produce the end product which it is desired to dispense.

By way of example, let it be assumed that the inner container is charged with liquid starch, while the outer container is charged with water and a propellant, such as a hydrocarbon propellant. With this combination of materials, the pressure in the outer container will act against the under side of the piston 22 to force it upwardly against liquid starch in the inner container to place said starch under pressure. So long as the main valve is in sealed condition, the slide valve 14 will seal the openings 16 and all parts of the structure will remain in the status quo shown in FIG. 1.

When it is desired to dispense the starch, the main valve is unsealed by depressing the push button 8. Simultaneously with the unsealing of the main valve, the slide valve 14 will be forced downwardly to unseal the openings 16, as shown in FIG. 2, and concurrently, the propellant in the outer container acting upon, for example, water in such container will discharge such water through the dip tube into the housing of the main valve. By these concurrent operations, the pressure on the piston 22 will force starch through the openings 16 into the valve housing where that starch will intermingle with the water in the housing and the resulting admixture will be discharged through the open main valve and through the discharge outlet 9 of the push button to be applied to the material which it is desired to starch.

As soon as sufiicient starch has been applied, as determined by the user, the push button is released and this immediately results in the sealing of the main valve with concurrent sealing of the openings 16, leaving the parts in the condition shown in FIG. 1 and ready for the next use.

There are some instances where it is not necessary and/ or desirable to keep the materials contained in the inner and outer containers separate from one another. In such cases the slide valve 14 may be omitted so that such materials from both containers may freely intermingle within the valve housing while the main valve is closed. With this latter arrangement the intermingled materials will be discharged whenever the main valve is opened and this discharge will continue as long as the push button is depressed. However, the form of the invention shown in the drawings has particular application in cases where it is desirable or necessary that the materials in the inner and outer containers be isolated from one another except during the dispensing operations.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the preferred practical form, but the invention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A dispenser for materials under pressure comprising an outer container adapted to contain material to be dispensed under pressure, an inner container charged with material to be dispensed, said inner container being rigid with the outer container and embodying a cylinder closed at its upper end and open at its lower end to the interior of the outer container, a piston in said cylinder, a main discharge valve having a housing rigid with both the outer and inner containers and provided with a dip tube extending through the piston to substantially the bottom of the outer container and through which material in the outer container may be passed to and through the main discharge valve, and an opening from the interior of the inner container and adjacent the upper end thereof for passing material from the inner container to said main discharge valve.

2. A dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the cylinder has substantially rigid walls.

3. A dispenser according to claim 1 comprising means for sealing said opening from the inner container when the main discharge valve is sealed.

4. A dispenser for materials under pressure comprising: an outer container, an inner container rigid with the outer container and having a closed top and a bottom open to the interior of the outer container, a piston operably slidable within said inner container, a main discharge valve rigid with the outer container and having a valve housing provided therein with a valve core which in raised position seals the discharge valve and in depressed condition unseals said discharge valve, a dip tube connected to the housing and extending downwardly through the piston to substantially the bottom of the outer container, there being formed in the valve housing a passage for passing material in the inner container into the valve housing, and means for sealing said opening in the valve housing when the main discharge valve is in sealing position, said means being operable to unseal said opening in the housing when the main discharge valve is unsealed.

5. A dispenser according to claim 4, wherein the means for sealing the opening in the housing embodies a second valve operable by the discharge valve core.

6. A dispenser according to claim 4, wherein the means for sealing the opening in the valve housing comprises an annular slide valve slidable within the housing into and out of registration with said opening, there being passages leading material fed through the dip tube to bypass said annular slide valve.

7. A dispenser comprising: a sealed can provided at its top with a main discharge valve having a valve housing provided therein with a core adapted to be vertically reciprocated to seal and unseal the main discharge valve, said core having mounted thereon a second valve movable with the core longitudinally of the housing and adapted to normally seal an opening through the wall of the housing when the main discharge valve is sealed and to unseal said opening when the main discharge valve is unsealed, a spring for normally maintaining the main discharge valve in sealed condition, a cylinder positioned interiorly of the can, the bottom of the cylinder being opened and the top of the cylinder being closed and rigid with the can, a piston in said cylinder, and a dip tube secured to the housing and extending through the piston to the bottom of the can.

8. A dispenser according to claim 7, wherein the cylinder has a top wall with a central opening therein provided with flanges embracing the valve housing and forming therewith a liquid impervious seal.

9. A dispenser according to claim 7 including a passage bypassing the second valve to open communication between the portions of the interior of the housing above and below the second valve.

10. A dispenser according to claim 7, wherein the second valve is a slide valve comprising a ring-like member provided with packing about its outer periphery.

iii. A dispenser comprising a cylinder closed at one end and open at its other end, a discharge valve rigid with said cylinder, a piston in said cylinder to contain therein material to be discharged through the discharge valve, a normally sealed external enclosure surrounding said cyl inder and adapted to contain a propellant to act upon the piston and compress the material within the cylinder, a dip tube connected to the interior of the discharge valve and extending from the discharge valve through said piston into the external enclosure and an outlet leading from the interior of the cylinder to the interior of the discharge valve.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,545,379 7/1925 Wenklcy 222326 X 6 Elle et a1. 222--145 X Winter 222-135 X Modderno 222136 X Giangualano 239-306 EVERETT W. KIRBY, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS J. DEMBO, Examiner. 

11. A DISPENSER COMPRISING A CYLINDER CLOSED AT ONE END AND OPEN AT ITS OTHER END, A DISCHARGE VALVE RIGID WITH SAID CYLINDER, A PISTON IN SAID CYLINDER TO CONTAIN THEREIN MATERIAL TO BE DISCHARGED THROUGH THE DISCHARGE VALVE, A NORMALLY SEALED EXTERNAL ENCLOSURE SURRONDING SAID CYLINDER AND ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A PROPELLANT TO ACT UPON THE PISTON AND COMPRESS THE MATERIAL WITHIN THE CYLINDER, A DIP TUBE CONNECTED TO THE INTERIOR OF THE DISCHARGE VALVE AND EXTENDING FROM THE DISCHARGE VALVE THROUGH SAID PISTON INTO THE EXTERNAL ENCLOSURE AND AN OUTLET LEADING FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE CYLINDER TO THE INTERIOR OF THE DISCHARGE VALVE. 